1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a conductive wire. More particularly, the present invention relates to a copper clad steel (CCS) wire with an indicator to deter theft of the wire.
2. Description of the Related Art
Utility companies, such as companies supplying power, television, telephone, cellular services, etc., are presently experiencing a dramatic increase in theft of materials. With the value of copper being very high, copper equipment and most particularly copper wires are being stolen and sold to recycling facilities for the scrap value of the copper. Sometimes the copper is stolen from the storage lots or warehouses of the utility company or from a job site during construction. However, the more troubling and dangerous occurrence is when a thief steals copper wires and other copper elements (e.g., ground bars) directly from a completed and functioning utility site. For example, grounding wires from functioning utility poles and/or equipment cabinets have been stolen. The cost for this later type of theft includes not only the replacement of the copper wiring, but also the coincidental damages to the interrelated equipment (e.g., short circuit damage to interconnected equipment, cabinet lock damage), as well as the technician labor costs and customer outage costs.
There have been several measures recently taken to address the problems of copper theft. Such measures are discussed at http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/12/meth_heads_copp.php and http://www.tessco.com/yts/industry/products/infra/infrastructure/sitehardware/copper_theft.html.
One particularly advantageous method of mitigating the costs of copper theft has been the replacement of copper wires with copper clad steel (CCS) wires. A CCS wire has a center core of steel and only a thin layer of copper surrounding the steel wire.
A CCS wire is stronger that a wire of pure copper. The wire can be less expensive. Since current is primary carried on the outer surface of a wire, the copper cladding layer allows the wire to have comparable performance characteristics to a pure copper wire.
A CCS wire has little recycle value. The CCS wire is primarily steel, which has a much lower recycle value than copper. Further, the processes for removing the thin copper layer from the steel wire are expensive. Hence, it is basically not worth stealing a CCS wire for its recycle value.